Amazing what a dollop of glaze can do. This casserole is also a comission for a vegetarian family who like to keep a good pot going with regular additions. The dimensions are 11″ wide and 5 1/2″ deep. Should be big enough!

Oven to tableware needs to be big enough to feed a family. Tagines are limiting because they are too tall for the average oven and cannot be used on top of the stove. Like God the casserole has always been with us in some form or other. I’ll try to develop my own take on this ancient theme.

Guess what? The casserole came out of the kiln with a huge crack across the bottom. Lid’s OK so I’ll throw a new base. Watch this space.

A holiday in Morrocco in 2007 introduced my wife and I to the wonderful lamb stews of this sub Saharan state. Dried fruit, especially apricots adds to the sweetness of the lamb and the contrasting bitter herb rosemary well known to Mediterranean cuisine.

The stew is eaten from the large pot in the centre of the family table, each diner dipping in with their fingers.

Traditionally tagines are of low fired earthenware in terracotta red clay with straight tapered sides to both pot and open topped lid. My take is to use stoneware clay, curved lines and varied glaze effects. The spouted lid remains for culinary reasons!

Having sold the large blue tagine elsewhere on this site a customer asked me if I could make her something similar. It reminded her of working in the local pottery factory years ago.

So I’m way out of style but who cares if it sells and I enjoy making it?

These are two versions I’m hoping she’ll like. At the moment they are “green” wares having been thrown, dried and now ready for the next “biscuit” firing. After that they’ll be glazed and she will have a choice to make, assuming both survive submission to the fire!